I love manga of any form. I am willing to read any manga that people recommend to me. I have started on several manga and unless I can't find it or it is not finished (and I've caught up) I will NOT start on another manga series. With that said, I will read other books besides manga but during the year while I'm in school I'll stick to manga. When I'm on break from school or on a holiday I will take the time to read more books. I also like several TV shows as well. I belong to the fandoms of House M.D., Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit, Sherlock, Supernatural, and The Adventures of Merlin. Think that's all for now. Have a fantastic Day!!! :)

What is really weird with my history concerning manga was that this manga series was the first manga series that I read (well, technically InuYasha was) and it introduced me to many other series that I read that were available in the small town that I grew up in. After Dragon Knights I read other sereis like Fruits Basket, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, and Planet Ladder.

While Dragon Knights was nothing spectacular I still enjoyed it and the art, that is not very common was interesting for me to look at. It has the typical 'good vs. evil' type story and I thought it was good. The characters are a lot of fun and I love the change in the tone of the series. I'm talking about how it goes from humorous to more action and making the series a little bit more dramatic.

If I did have any complaints of the series, it would be Rath & Cesia's pasts which isn't explained a whole lot. Cesia's past is not clearly explained because Nadil mentions that she was created from his wind magic, which makes sense because she is a powerful wind demon, but then Rath tells her that she has real parents because Zoma was going to find them. And then Nadil mentions that Rath's previous identity was the Demon King of the East and that the alchemist Kharl tried to recreate him. Even to this day, I'm still confused about Rath's past (if they would go into more detail with that or do some sort of flashback that showed him as the Demon King of the East, that would be cool) and his connection with Nohiro. Why does Nohiro get a headache when he thinks of Rath's name? What is their connection? It is never revealed because the last time we see Nohiro is when he freed the Eastern King (I think that's who he is) and the Eastern King goes and assists Kitchel.

This series is not that great or spectacular but my reason for giving it a five star rating is that this series is one of my guilty pleasures. It's nothing fantastic but I still do like it. But let's get to the story.

Dragon Knights is a fantasy adventure and it knows that but it doesn't quite follow all the way through. I'm mostly talking about the modern-day talk which is mostly used for the comedy of the series. The story is nothing new and very simple: keep the villain from being reborn but of course he does and the heroes have to stop him.

Ok, so the story is nothing new but what makes the series stand out are the characters. They are all fun, incredibly likable, have their own personality, and there are different variety of species with the side characters (not surprising since this is a fantasy world). You have humans (the witches, fortune tellers, etc) demons, fairies, elves, dragons, and citizens of Draqueen (the dragon kingdom) which are the Dragon Knights or Dragon Officers. (By the way, what are they? Are they actually dragon people or some nonhuman people that work with dragons? They aren't elves so are they dragons? I don't know but they are different from other species that are in the series.) But anyway, back to the characters.

The main characters, Rath and Cesia, are entertaining and likable. Rath is an obsessed demon fighter who hates being in the dragon palace but is also keeping a dark secret from his comrades. He feels that he shouldn't be allowed to live and he is a demon that was given the blood of the Dragon Lord to make him the heir to Lord Lykoulen. Rath has this complexity towards him because of his inner struggle with himself. He hates himself and doesn't think he deserves to live because of the horrible actions he's committed in his past even though it wasn't entirely his fault. In later volumes, it appears that he holds some sort of grudge towards the royals and officers of Draqueen. Even after I finished this series, I'm still confused on why Rath feels any anger towards them. It is because he feels he needs to die and they won't let him or is it that they care about him and he doesn't want them to? Well ok then, moving on.

Cesia is also a demon, who was given a dragon amulet to keep her dark side sealed within her. Cesia is one of the most interesting characters because both her character and past is a little complex. She is a wind demon that was raised as a witch's apprentice and took a human disguise to conceal her identity. She is smart, kind, powerful (psychologically as well as physically), logical, and stands up for those she cares about. I really like her inner struggle with her inner demon because it creates complexity and depth towards her character. She has her demon side that sides with Nadil not for the sake of being his ally but just for the sake of doing evil. In particular to those who sealed her away (mostly the Dragon Tribe).

Now to the side characters, let's first look that the Dragon Lord and Lady.

Well I can't talk about one without talking about the other. Lord Lykoulen and Lady Raseleane are the king and queen of Draqueen. Lykoulen is a kind leader who is sympathetic and able to see good qualities in people that others or the person themselves are not able to see. He is not allowed to leave the palace by his dragon officers because he is the only heir left to Draqueen and his safety is important. Raseleane is similar to her husband. She's kind and is a mother figure to most of the remnants of the palace in Draqueen. They both love each other very much and are very devoted to one another. The only thing is that Raseleane gets kidnapped twice in the series and Lykoulen always has to rescue her while also having other problems to deal with in Draqueen. It is later revealed that Lykoulen was the previous Light Dragon Knight and wielded the dragon sword. But Lady Raseleane's only power is her dragon eyes and nothing else. I know that she's not one of the more important side characters but can't she have powers of some sort that gives her enough responsibility and power in the palace so she can be on the same level as her husband? No? No awesome dragon power? Ok then.

The other two Dragon Knights, Rune and Thatz, are not exactly side characters but are secondary main characters. Rune is very logical focused, places his mission above other tasks, and is very close to the main hero Rath. He is an elf prince that eventually regains his elfin powers after he looses them once he became a dragon knight. Thatz was a human thief who tried to steal the earth dragon, while it was in its seal, but was possessed by a demon in order to kill the Dragon Lord but became a Dragon Knight with the help of the Dragon Lord and the earth dragon. I found these guys pretty interesting, Thatz was the laid back one who cared about treasure and food while Rune was uptight and rational to had to yell at Rath and Thatz about the importance of their missions. Together they were hilarious, separately they were funny and fascinating.

The other characters are also a lot of fun to read. The dragon officers are pretty cool. There's Alfeegi who is smart, resourceful, always uptight, like Rune, and is always looking for someone, doing paper work, or lecturing the Dragon Lord or Kaistern. Ruwalk is childish and helps those he cares about even though he gets in trouble for it. Kaistern is an adventurer who was a teacher to Rath and always goes on missions even though he gets lectured for it. He is very close to Rath and would do anything in his power to save Rath even if Rath might hate him for it. Tetheus is the more serious one as he's in charge of the security of the Dragon palace and apparently he has a secret. He is the brother of Shydeman and Shyrendora which makes him a demon as well.

The other side characters are pretty cool. Kitche's funny, Tintlet's kind, Zoma is hilarious which leaves us the villains.

Let me tell you, I absolutely like LOVE these villains. They are just pure evil, killing people carrying out their evil plans and enjoying being evil. The main villain is Nadil. His plans are not completely clear but his motive is pretty clear: he wants to rule all three lands. So basically he wants power. While his motive is not that strong, it's his means to reach his goals is what makes him diabolical. At first, it's not clear on the relationship between him and the Dragon Lord that started this fight between each other until in later volumes. Nadil was the Wind Dragon Knight serving under the dragon lord but betrayed him by apparently eating the Wind Dragon (which is the most powerful dragon out of all the others) and building a demonic army. His second in commands are Shydeman and Shyrendora.

Shydeman and Shyrendora are twin demons who share the same soul as a result of joining Nadil's army and being saved when close to death. Although they like manipulating people and look similar, they have two different personalities. Shydeman is calm and intelligent while Shyrendora is easily agitated and has a short temper. They both work together very well and are just AWESOME villains.

What else can I say? The story and the journey of the characters were really good and the ending was pretty good because some people that were originally villains (they were more like side villains than main villains) ended up becoming allies to our main characters and some characters and some characters that I liked died. I was so sad when they died. *sniffs & sighs* A very satisfactory ending.

Other than the little nitpicks that I mentioned, I have no problems with this series. It's creative, fun, adventurous, the characters are likeable, and the action is pretty good too. I really enjoyed this series to the end with its flaws.